Rajiva Wijesinha

“ Sadly however, given the desperate attempts of so many forces to destroy confidence in the peace process, and the government’s pluralistic policies, it has also proved important for the Peace Secretariat to defend current policies. Given the excellent staff that has been built up over the years at the Secretariat, it has a longer institutional memory of a wider range of issues than many institutions and this leads to its services being required by many other official bodies. It therefore has access to much information, which it processes on behalf of others. ”

“ More serious are the suggestions that the Peace Secretariat is going beyond its mandate, along with comparisons with the activities of the Peace Secretariat in the past. Such comparisons ignore the fact that institutions need to change with the times. ”

“ Whilst criticism based on concrete evidence is always welcome, denigration for the sake of denigration or worse, is inappropriate, and it certainly should not be funded by foreign taxpayers. Concerted action to prevent this is essential, and the Peace Secretariat will not be diverted from this task by special interests that exercise unwarranted influence in blocking transparency and accountability. ”